Wout van Aert "really wants to win Roubaix and Flanders, and every year that doesn't happen is a lost year" - Visma coach Jan Boven

Jan Boven is in charge of training and directing Team Visma | Lease a Bike's riders over the cyclocross season and that has not been an easy task this time around. He says that despite the lack of big goals, Wout van Aert was still disappointed to be a level below Mathieu van der Poel during their battles.

"Ultimately, we went in with a very different objective than last year. This year, the goal was to ride some great cyclocross races, although we did notice Wout really felt the spark after the race in Hulst. But then Mathieu van der Poel was so good in Baal that the thought was immediately crushed for Wout," Boven tells in words with In de Leiderstrui.

The Belgian showed good form in some races, but often finished second behind the World Champion. A difficult pill to swallow when it happened on several occasions and often enough the difference was made very early in the race. "He was really convinced that he had a good feeling, but in Baal, Mathieu put him under so much pressure that he had to start making mistakes. After Baal, he was disappointed."

"But ultimately he was kind of okay with it when we related it back to the bigger plan. He knows where he wants to be this spring and has now also made a good step at the training camp. After the cyclocross race in Benidorm, he will stay another week with his family to do another good training block," Boven shares. The two meet today in Spain for their final duel of the cyclocross season. Van der Poel then follows his path into the World Championships, whilst van Aert is fully focused in the spring.

A rating of the spring will only be judged at the end of it. Van Aert is currently doing a less heavy winter plan, and has finetuned his schedule quite a bit over the coming months in an attempt to arrive at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the best possible level.

"After Roubaix, we will evaluate this block and then in September, we will see how we will approach the coming year. He still enjoys cyclocross, but also knows that certain choices have consequences and that he must continue to make those choices. He really wants to win Roubaix and Flanders, and every year that doesn't happen is a lost year," he concluded.